Thinking of adding a subwoofer for more bass.

You may want to check out the Velodyne SMS-1 subwoofer controller - for use with any sub you choose. It allows room analysis below 200hz and Parametric EQ on 6 bands between 20hz and 120hz. I recently bought one for use with my Verity Parsifal Encores (and I also bought subs for use with other speakers that I rotate into my system).

This unit requires real effort - PEQ turns out to be more trial and error than I thought - but the results are really dramatic. The cost is app $600 (AudioAdvisor.com) plus whichever subs you choose.

Good Luck

Marty

To clarify my post: Hulskof's post is correct in theory, but not necessarily in practice. If your system is actually producing flat response to 37hz, you won't hear much difference with a sub. You will feel the extended bass, as he indicates.

In practice, you are almost certainly getting bumps and nulls in your bass below about 125hz - prior to adding the sub and eq, I was seeing "hills" of 11 to 12 db (reference to 80 db) and "valleys" up to 7 or 8 hz. A sub with equalization (like the Velodyne) can address this issue and you will most definitely hear a difference. I eventually acheived +/- 3.5db from 25hz to 200hz using the SMS-1, but it took a lot of time.

Note: The subs with auto EQ don't remotely acheive the same result as using the SMS analyzer to tweak and optimize response by hand. It's funny in that similar looking total deviation from flat response may sound quite different one graph to the next, but less total deviation (especially near the x-over point) definitely sounds much better (to me). In other words keep tweaking for flatter response and I'm confident you'll hear a difference.

Good Luck

Marty

Bob,

Glad you approve of the advice, but it's usually an excersize in frustration! Utilizing PEQ below 200hz is the only effective method I've found to consistently and EFFECTIVELY "tweak away" the bass response issues that Marantz describes. There may be other approaches, but I couldn't find one for my room. Some folks get lucky with room/speaker mating but others (like me) are stuck with hostile environments.

Marty

Marntz, the spec you are reading usually states the anechoic frequency
response. This is measured with no reflected energy - basically in a room
without walls. Most listening rooms, however, actually have walls and those
wall create reflections.

In my room, there is a large (+/- 15db peak) rise between 100hz and 130hz.
There are significant but narrow nulls at 80hz and 50hz and a broader null
below 35 hz. The net effect is that the published specs rarely correlate to
what I hear in the bass region. I've only had 2 speakers in this room that
provided decent response to 35ish hz - the Merlin VSM and the Ohm 100.
The Verity Parsifal Encore, which provided solid response to 32hz in my last
home, won't get below 38hz in this one. That is not a giant difference, but
coupled with other room related bass effects, the Verity sounds thicker and
slower with less real deep bass than it should.

IMHO, the greatest advantage of modern subs is that they allow you to
address these issues with room analysis and EQ. You can essentially
"fix" the room. Some people will reject the whole idea because
you are "creating" the sound rather than listening to sound which
the speaker manufacturer intended you to hear. However, if your room
sucks......

Marty

PS I noted the exception to the best bass extention at 38hz in my earlier post
to this thread. The subs go flat to 25Hz.

Magfan,

What I've gotten is "order of magnitude" improvement. I have enjoyed the expected benefit in deep bass: organ, (particularly synthesized) bass lines and drums are all rendered with more definition and impact. The biggest difference has been in the mid-band. With the bass "muck" gone, the midrange imrpovement has been both unexpected and pretty startling.

I have ordered 2 bass busters (hemholtz resonators tuned to "absorb" excess energy in the range extending roughly 1 octave above roughly 80hz. At the least, this should minimize the amount of eq I need to apply in that range. It's an approach that might work for Marntz as well, either alone or in combo with eq'd woofs.

Marty

Magfan,

I should have responded to your other point. My set up is 2 channel, one listener. You may be quite right about unsatisfactory results over the broader area required for HT. I don't know, haven't tried.

Marty